“Jameson... I can’t...” She gets choked up, swallowing hard, and I move to sit on Ransom’s lap, so I can be right beside her.

I set the box on the bench and unclip the end.

Tipping my chin, I slightly warn her I’m coming in and she doesn’t protest, so as gently as possible, I fit the necklace around her slender neck, then clasp and spin it.

I smile and hers follows, making me laugh slightly and Ransom’s chest expands at my back.

With slightly shaky movements she lifts her right arm, her fingers gently running along each pearl.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you for... for everything.”

She doesn’t have to say it, I know what she means.

She’s thanking me for loving her brother, for accepting her, for the events of the last week, but I should thank her just the same.

And I will, but not today. Today, it’s obvious she needed to say those words for herself, so I’ll save my gratitude for another time.

And there will be plenty more times to come.

“Okay, gorgeous, where’s that new fishpond you told me about?” Beretta wraps his hands around the handles of her chair, and she chuckles.

“Behind the garden,” she tells him.

“Behind the garden we go.” He grins and Arsen falls in step beside them as they head in that direction.

Slowly, we stand, and Ransom grips my hips, spinning me to face him.

His face is drawn tight, a look of adoration written along his every feature. “That was...”

“The least I could do. I know she wanted a perfect pearl, now she has eighty-five of them.”

He chuckles, pulling me in, but he quickly grows serious. “You do know that even if this shit wouldn’t have happened with your mom or my brother, that in the end, you’d still be mine, right? No matter what, you would have been with me, even if I had to hide you away?”

My grin is wide and I wrap my arms around his neck, guiding his lips to mine. “Yeah, baby, I know.”

I kiss him, and as I do, I find myself where I was before I met him.

Wishing the year would be over already so the end can begin.

Because that’s what he is, my end.

My messy, unclear, hopeful future is full of promise.

Full of us.

And our boys.

And Sienna.

And who knows... maybe even Monti, if she’s lucky.

I know I am, and tonight, when the lights go out and darkness takes over, I’ll show my man how lucky I feel.

And he’ll show me just how badly behaved he can be.

Bring on the blackout.

Epilogue

Five Years Later

Ransom